The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea purpurea and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Irresistible’. ‘Irresistible’ represents a new purple coneflower, an herbaceous perennial grown for landscape use.
The new cultivar arose from an ongoing breeding program conducted by the Inventor in a designated field at his nursery in Warmond, The Netherlands. In 2006, the Inventor pollinated the cultivar ‘Razmatazz’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,894) with pollen collected from numerous unnamed and unpatented selections of Echinacea purpurea with orange colored ray florets (single) and selections with semi-double inflorescences. The exact male parentage is unknown. ‘Irresistible’ was selected by the Inventor as a single unique plant amongst the resulting seedlings in June of 2008.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by in vitro propagation in Rijswijk, The Netherlands in 2008 under the direction of the Inventor. The characteristics of this cultivar have been determined to be stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.